Mayor Walsh Expands Boston's Community Compost Program to Include City Hall

Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced today that the City of Boston is scaling up the Project Oscar community composting pilot program to include City Hall Plaza, in addition to three new neighborhood locations. Residents will now be able to drop-off their food scraps at Grove Hall Plaza in Dorchester, Curtis Hall Community Center in Jamaica Plain, Faneuil Gardens Housing Development in Brighton, as well City Hall Plaza. These four new sites are in addition to the two existing bins in the North End and East Boston.

“Project Oscar demonstrates how community-driven participation can contribute to finding solutions that are in the best interest for all of us,” said Mayor Walsh. “We’re all rolling up our sleeves – including City Hall – to make progress on climate action, and this is an important step in exploring different waste management options.”

Nearly 200 Boston residents participated in the pilot program in the North End and East Boston in the fall of 2014, where feedback was collected through a community participation survey advertised at local farmers’ markets and community events. Because of the success of the pilot locations – where in the past six months, 13,500 pounds of food waste have been diverted – four new sites were chosen to expand the free composting program across the City of Boston.

“Expanding organic waste diversion opportunities builds on the leadership we’re already seeing from businesses and state policies addressing this critical resource management issue,” said Austin Blackmon, Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space.

Project Oscar is an initiative run in collaboration with the Department of Public Works, the Mayor’s Office of Food Initiatives, Greenovate Boston, and the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics. It builds on the City’s continued efforts to increase residential composting options throughout Boston, and works towards meeting the food waste diversion goals set forth in the City’s 2014 Climate Action Plan. Diverting organics not only helps to mitigate the primary cause of climate change, but it also promotes a closed-loop waste management system that more efficiently uses resources.

Tosha Baker, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Food Initiatives commented, “My sincere hope is to create a more comprehensive and holistic look at food in our City; we support initiatives that can contribute to a thriving urban agriculture environment.”

The new Project Oscar community drop-off sites in Brighton, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, and Downtown are open now to all neighborhood residents interested in participating. Community bins will be emptied weekly by the Department of Public Works, and collected food scraps will continue to be taken to Rocky Hill Farm in Saugus, MA.

To find out more information about Project Oscar, email Oscar@Boston.gov, call the Environment Department at 617-635-3850, or visit our website at http://www.greenovateboston.org/project_oscar_composting_program.